NGAY TỪ ĐẦU Mt68 TIÊN ĐOÁN RẤT CÓ THỂ MỸ SẼ "SA LẦY" Ở VENEZUELA- VÌ MỸ ĐÃ BỎ SÓT "PHÓ TỔNG THỐNG" - NAY MỸ KHÔNG DẼ GÌ LOẠI PHÓ TT ĐÃ TRỞ THÀNH TT TẠM THỜI DO TỐI CAO PHÁP VIỆN CÔNG NHẬN./-Mt68
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Nicolás Maduro's allies maintain power in Venezuela, rejecting US claims they will 'comply'
Delcy Rodríguez has rejected Donald Trump's insistence she will do what the US wants. (Reuters: Leonardo Fernandez Viloria, file)
In short:
After the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the now-deposed president's allies appear to be in control of Venezuela and unwilling to work with the US.
That is despite Donald Trump's insistence that Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was prepared to cooperate.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US will continue a pressure campaign, including an oil blockade, and he expects Venezuela's regime to comply with American demands.
The Trump administration insists Venezuela's leaders will comply with American demands after the extraordinary capture of president Nicolás Maduro — but his allies are resisting US pressure.
The South American nation now appears to be under the control of what remains of Mr Maduro's regime, after US forces snatched him and his wife in a weekend military operation that stunned the global community.
Delcy Rodríguez, who was vice-president to Mr Maduro, has been named interim president by Venezuela's high court. She was quick to publicly reject the Trump administration's claim she would now work with the US.
Other members of the Venezuelan government doubled down on the defiant position on Sunday, local time.
In a televised address, Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said armed forces had been activated across the country to protect the country's sovereignty.
And interior minister Diosdado Cabello said Venezuela's government would stay unified behind Mr Maduro. "The unity of the revolutionary force is more than guaranteed," he said in an audio recording given to the Reuters news agency.
The White House shared images of Nicolás Maduro in US custody. (Handout via Reuters)
America's plans for Venezuela remain largely unclear after Donald Trump declared the US would temporarily "run" it.
But in a series of Sunday interviews, Mr Trump and his cabinet secretaries indicated the US would continue its pressure campaign on Venezuela's ruling regime, rather than look to install a new one in the foreseeable future.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was impractical to immediately transfer power to the Venezuelan opposition, who international watchdogs say rightfully won previous elections.
"The immediate reality is that, unfortunately, and sadly … the vast majority of the opposition is no longer inside of Venezuela," Mr Rubio told NBC's Meet the Press.
"The people left behind in Venezuela now that are in charge of the police and everything else, I assure you they're going to probably be a lot more compliant than Maduro was as a result of [his capture]."
He described America's objectives in Venezuela as "no more drug trafficking, no more Iran/Hezbollah presence there, and no more using the oil industry to enrich all our adversaries around the world".
Mr Rubio said the US was "not at war with Venezuela", nor was it looking to govern the country. But he said an oil blockade would continue, along with other pressure tactics.
"We will continue to seize the boats that are sanctioned with court orders," Mr Rubio said.
"We will continue to do that and potentially other things until the things we need to see addressed are addressed."
Mr Trump, meanwhile, told The Atlantic magazine that if the interim Venezuelan president "doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro".
Mr Padrino, the Venezuelan defence minister, said US forces killed a "large part" of Mr Maduro's security detail in the military strike.
A Venezuelan official put the death toll at 80, the New York Times reported, but that figure cannot be independently verified.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, remain in custody in New York. They are expected to face court on Monday, local time, in preparation for an upcoming "narco-terrorism" trial.
The UN Security Council is also due to hold an emergency meeting on Monday. /-
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